Waste and Waste Sites

Within the administrative boundaries of Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council, more that 4.2 million tonnes of waste is generated every year and this amount is predicted to rise over the next 15 to 20 years. Waste is produced not only by householders, but also through commercial and industrial activities, agricultural practice and construction, demolition and excavation projects.

The estimated permitted waste treatment capacity (as at April 2013) is 2.86 million tonnes per annum for recycling, organic treatment and residual recovery (excluding waste transfer capacity and landfill). Waste transfer facilities have been excluded from the existing treatment capacity to avoid double counting, as despite some of the facilities recycling on site, the actual proportion/tonnage of recycling capacity is not known.

There is also approximately 967,000 tonnes per annum of aggregate recycling capacity. Permitted waste management capacity figures demonstrate that the sub region is in excess of the waste treatment tonnage required by the RSS waste forecast for 2008/09.

Refer to Performance Indicator 1.6 of AMR2013 for further details on permitted waste management facilities and capacity and waste treatment requirements and capacity gap.

The Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) are also useful sources of waste related data.

It should be noted that as with any other information, waste data is not static and changes over time.

Planning and Development mapping

Waste Sites

Recycling Facilities and Waste Transfer - Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent have a reasonably good network of recycling facilities, 86 in total with a permitted capacity of approximately 1.4 million tonnes per annum. There is also a good network of waste transfer stations that will often begin the sorting process before bulking up waste items in readiness to transfer to an appropriate treatment or processing facility. There are 102 waste transfer facilities (including the 16 Household Waste Recycling Centres) with a total capacity of almost 2 million tonnes per annum.

Household Waste Recycling Centres - There are 14 Household Waste Recycling Centres in Staffordshire| and there are also two facilities within Stoke on Trent|.

Organic Treatment Facilities - The number of organic treatment facilities in Staffordshire has increased significantly over the last few years. There are a total of 14 permitted organic treatment sites (but 17 facilities). There are also 2 sewage treatment works where biological treatment and energy generation is taking place: Strongford (40ktpa) and Claymills (55ktpa).

Aggregate Recycling Facilities - Capacity for recycling construction & demolition wastes to produce recycled aggregate has been re-assessed and there are 21 sites in Staffordshire and 5 sites in Stoke-on-Trent with a combined capacity of approximately 967,000 tonnes per annum.

Residual Treatment and Energy from Waste -There are 15 residual treatment facilities in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent with approximately 1 million tonnes per annum of permitted capacity. Of the 14 facilities there are two permitted Energy from Waste facilities (1 pre-operational) which manage municipal waste.

The Synergy Energy from Waste plant at Hanford, Stoke-on-Trent, burns about 200,000 tonnes of municipal waste and produces about 14.5 Mega Watts of electricity each year. Permission has recently been granted for a second Energy from Waste facility to be built in South Staffordshire at Four Ashes with a permitted capacity of 300,000 tonnes per annum.

Landfill Sites - There are a total of 21 landfill sites, 19 in Staffordshire and 2 in Stoke-on-Trent. These consist of:

The majority of the waste managed in Staffordshire is currently disposed of at landfill sites. However, there has been a significant reduction in the amount of waste being landfilled in recent years. In 1994/5 3.2 million tonnes of waste was landfilled and in 1997 this had reduced to 2.7 million tonnes. Figures in our Evidence Base Report - Technical Paper (September 2008) suggest that less than 1.5 million tonnes of waste is now disposed of at landfill.

According to the Scott Wilson Study 2009, the remaining life of landfills in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent range between 3 and 19 years. Future need for additional landfill could be met through new or existing quarries being granted permission for landfill for restoration purposes. Note that there are 5 non hazardous and 2 inert sites with planning permission but which have not yet commenced (mineral sites with planning permission to restore by infill). Changes in legislation and increases in landfill tax will drive waste from landfill where possible, however this will have the effect of prolonging the landfill capacity at existing sites.

Waste planning policy - Our new Waste Local Plan| (formerly referred to as the Waste Core Strategy),has now been adopted and has replaced the former plan. The new plan sets out a vision, objectives and spatial strategy to guide decisions about the development of waste management facilities in Staffordshire (and the City of Stoke-on-Trent) up to 2026.